Scot Harvath’s battle against the terrorists that threaten our nation gets personal when he learns that an assassin has targeted his friends and family. He approaches the President for help, but is told to stay out of it. Of course, Harvath has never been a person to listen to orders...
Brad Thor’s sixth novel, THE FIRST COMMANDMENT, takes the reader on an extremely exciting and realistic look at the War on Terror. Brad, right, took time out to talk to The Big Thrill about his canvas of thrillers.
What sparked the idea for The First Commandment? Did you intend the novel to be a personal journey of Harvath's life?
My wife and I were discussing ideas over a glass of wine and she said, “We always trumpet the fact that we don’t negotiate with terrorists. But what if we did, just once?”
It was a brilliant idea and when I looked into it, I was amazed at what I discovered. The exception to our nation’s number one rule in the war on terror, The First Commandment if you will, is absolutely chilling.
I focused a lot on making even more memorable characters in this book. As readers hurtle along with the action and are held by the heights of suspense, I wanted them to know more about Harvath – who he was and what made him tick – than I had in previous books. I wanted them to feel connected to him like they never have before. I think I did that and did it without sacrificing one ounce of excitement in this novel. You get shoved right to the edge of your seat and remain there all the way to the last page.
Does Scot Harvath share any of your characteristics? How did he originate
in your mind?
There is a lot of Scot Harvath in me and a lot of me in Scot Harvath. He’s named after my brother, who only spells his name with one “t” – a curiosity many of my readers have asked me about and which I answer in my new thriller, The First Commandment.
Harvath represents a lot of the idealism that I hold as a patriot. I am very proud of my friends who are out there fighting the war on terror and who are giving everything so that we may be safe. What drives Scot Harvath is the same thing that drives them – patriotism and love of country.
How do you conduct research for your novels? Do you have connections in the intelligence community?
I am fortunate to have many contacts, both active and retired, who are/have been actively engaged in the Global War on Terror. I also read anything I can get my hands on that has to do with the subject matters I write about.{mospagebreak}
Do you find it difficult to balance the entertainment with the reality of
terrorism?
It is a very fine line. 9/11 was six years ago and I know a lot of people who are holding their collective breath waiting for something else. We’ve repeatedly been told that it isn’t a question of if, it’s only a question of when the next attack will happen. We’ve been very lucky in the amount and scope of attacks we’ve foiled so far.
So, do I find it difficult to balance the entertainment with the reality of terrorism? It’s a challenge, but that’s what I love about my work. At the end of the day, I want to entertain my readers. I also want to scare the hell out of them. I want to drag them right up to the edge, pull out the biggest, ugliest enemy they have ever seen, knock the stuffing out of it and shove it back under the bed. I think the catharsis that comes from seeing terror so up close and so real is what makes my novels so entertaining.
Is the War on Terror winnable?
No. It is a war without end. We are fighting an ideology, not a country with borders and infrastructure. We cannot outspend and bankrupt radical Islam the way we did the Soviet Union. For every plot we quash and would-be plotter we capture or kill, two more spring up to take their place.
Radical Islam has become the “cause” for every disenfranchised Muslim rebel without a cause.
The only way radical Islam can be defeated is by moderate Muslims to stand united and wage a powerful, unceasing campaign against it.
We also need to open our eyes to the equally devastating threat of “Legal” Islam being waged against us here at home, which like water against a stone, is using our legal system against us to chip away at our Constitution and rights as American citizens.
Is America doomed to fall like the Roman Empire?
In my opinion, one of the best voices on this subject is philosopher, Phillip Atkinson www.ourcivilisation.com. Atkinson is extraordinarily capable of breaking this complex question down so that it is easy to understand. In short, I believe one hundred percent in America’s ability to thrive and remain a potent force in the world for thousands of years to come. The problem, though, is that our nation is being eaten away from within – much the way the Roman Empire was before its decline.
One of Atkinson’s questions that I like to pose is, “Who are right? The people who believe a woman should have to cover herself with a head scarf or full length burka, or the people who say a woman should be able to wear whatever she wishes?”
The answer is quite surprising. There are impassioned, no-room-for-doubt feelings on both sides of each issue. But what history has taught is that the viewpoint that will be considered correct on this question belongs to the camp with both the might and the will to impose its beliefs on the other.
Many in America have trouble with this perspective. We want our Starbucks, our iPods, and drive-through windows, but we don’t want our country to commit any acts of aggression against other peoples. We have lost our stomach for war, just as many of the citizens of Rome did.{mospagebreak}
Could you talk about the Red Cell program?
I can talk a little about it. The way I was invited to participate was straight out of a movie. I was jogging in the mountains near my home in Park City, Utah when all of a sudden my cell phone rang and I was asked if I would be interested in joining.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell program was created to bring creative thinkers from outside the D.C. beltway to envision possible terrorist threats to America, both at home and abroad. I liken it to a ship captain inviting a select handful of passengers on deck to help anticipate where icebergs might be. It has been an honor for me to be involved with what I feel is one of the government’s most aggressive and forward thinking anti-terrorism programs post 9/11.
Thriller readers might be surprised to see that you have a cameo of another novelist's character in The First Commandment. How did this come about?
Steve Berry and Jim Rollins started it. Steve mentioned it to me while my wife and I were visiting with him in Georgia and it sounded like fun. We all share a lot of the same readers and we thought it might be fun for them to see one of their favorite characters from another author mentioned.
As far as I know, the mention is as far as it has gone. I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing dialogue for another author’s character. The mention in my book worked perfectly for the plot. If you aren’t familiar with Steve’s work, the reference will just zip by, but if you do know it, I think you’ll get a big kick out of seeing his character mentioned.
What can you tell us about Gather.com and The Big Thrill?
Gather.com is the adult social networking equivalent of MySpace.com. It boasts over one million users a month – with more than 320,000 members. I am going to be hosting a very special section called, The Big Thrill. Each week, we will hold live chats with both well-known authors, as well as the up-and-coming authors, readers need to be on the lookout for. These authors will also be giving us sneak peeks at their upcoming books as well as unique content that readers will see first at The Big Thrill. I think it is going to be a lot of fun and is poised to be the premiere conduit for bringing readers and their favorite writers together.
Jeff Ayers is the author of Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion. (Pocket Books-November 2006). He frequently reviews thrillers for Library Journal and regularly interviews authors for LJ, the Seattle Post-Intellgencer, and Writer Magazine.
